


Ten-Nine (Can you clarify that, please?)

by Nerdofmanytalents



Series: Skyhold PD [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Police, Evelyn Georgiana Trevelyan, Evelyn babbles when she's anxious, F/M, Meeting the Family, Romance, Skyhold PD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:32:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7765042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdofmanytalents/pseuds/Nerdofmanytalents
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evelyn and Cullen have an communication error a few weeks into their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten-Nine (Can you clarify that, please?)

Cullen looked up as Evelyn entered his office after a quick knock, a smile on her face.

“Good morning,” she chirped, setting the pile of papers in her arms on his desk before leaning across it to steal a kiss. He grinned, reaching up to cup the back of her head to draw it out. 

“Good morning. You’re certainly chipper,” he commented as she pulled away. She shrugged.

“It is a good morning. It's nearly the weekend, we’re both off duty for two days, which means I happen to get to spend the whole weekend with my handsome sweetheart,” she replied. “Isn’t that reason enough?”

“I’ll agree with that,”he said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair with his hands locked behind his head. ”It’s been a long week. Speaking of the weekend, what are our plans?”

She sat on the edge of his desk, fiddling with the top file on the stack she’d set down.

“Not much. We’ve got the dinner Friday evening, obviously, then we’ll just play it by ear for the rest of the weekend.”

“Sounds fine to me. I’ll let you be in charge of things then.”

She hummed in agreement, before hopping back off the desk. 

“Alright. I’ve gotta go cover dispatch for a bit--Sera’s having car troubles and said she was gonna be late. See you at lunch.”

She blew him a kiss as she exited and the action had him smiling a lot longer after she left than he would ever admit to anyone.

\---

Cullen locked his front door and headed to the curb where Evelyn was parked. He leaned to give her a kiss as he climbed into her car before buckling.

“Sorry, running a bit late. Were you waiting long?”

“Nope. Just pulled up as I texted you. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

Cullen leaned his head back against the headrest, a sigh of relief to finally be done with the week escaping him. The drive was comfortable, and he was content to just watch the scenery as Evelyn drove.

After a few minutes, Cullen frowned as they passed restaurant after restaurant until they were well past any of their normal haunts for dinner and entering the next town over.

“Where are we going?”

She looked over at him with a cocked brow.

“Dinner?”

“Dinner where? Are we trying something new?”

Her expression grew a bit confused as she pulled up to a stoplight and regarded him.

“Mia’s…?”

“Wait, what? We’re going to Mia’s?”

She was quiet for a moment, before she visibly blanched.

“Oh _Maker,_ you didn’t plan this.”

Before he could process what she had said, she had pulled the car over onto the shoulder. She immediately undid her seatbelt and exited the car and to his mild amusement began pacing in front of the car, clearly mumbling to herself. He moved to get out of the car himself.

“I’m sorry!” She blurted as soon as his door shut. “I thought--Mia messaged me and I assumed you just had her contact me and-and--I thought you knew, and I didn’t think anything of it because it’s just dinner, it’s not a big deal, it’s just people eating dinner together but now I realize that to some people this is a big deal to introduce someone to their family, and I didn’t mean to be presumptuous--” At this point she was pacing again. “-And I-I-I’ll just walk home. We’re not far. I don’t want you to be late. Just tell Mia I got sick or something, I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to invite myself over to meet your family.I just--I didn’t think-”

“Evelyn, stop,” he said firmly, gripping her arms to stop her anxious movement and he immediately noticed she was trembling.. She looked up at him with slightly glassy eyes and it tugged at his heart to see her so upset.

“You’re not presumptuous, just...tell me what’s going on because you’re babbling, dear, and I can’t make sense of half of what you’re saying,” he chuckled softly, tucking some of her unruly hair behind her ear. She gave him a wobbly smile before she inhaled shakily and stopped shaking.

“I...Mia messaged me about dinner this weekend earlier this week. I thought you wanted me to figure out the details because it’s been busy. I didn’t think anything of it because I just...family things aren’t..something I really think of as a big deal? Because family is...they’re just your family? Everybody’s got one? So I thought you knew. I didn’t mean to invite myself to meet them. I know that for most people it’s a big step to introduce someone to your family and we’ve only been dating a short while and I just...I didn’t mean to push this. I don’t need to go, I didn’t mean to invite myself over. I can go home.”

“Alright, first off, you didn’t invite yourself. Mia invited you. And its just like her to be sneaky about this. You did nothing wrong.”

She bit her lip. “Are you sure? You...I didn’t tell you. It was...incredibly rude of me.”

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t ask for details when you said we were doing ‘dinner,’ earlier this week,” he shrugged. “And I probably should have. But it’s fine. I’m just a little put out that I wasn’t the one who suggested it. You’ll hit it off swimmingly with everyone, I assure you.”

He had to grin at the hopeful look that crossed her face. “Really? It’s okay? Because I mean it, I can go home if you’d rather not do this tonight.”

He scoffed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not going home. If I have to deal with the herd of them, so do you.”

That drew a giggle out of her, and he was relieved to see the last of the tension drain out of her form. She gave him a little shove back towards his side of the car.

“Come on, we’re gonna be late.”

With a wry smirk, he admired her ability to bounce from sheer panic to excitement so quickly as he got back in the car. As soon as she was buckled in and driving, he took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

The rest of the drive into town went smoothly, with Evelyn occasionally humming or singing along with the radio.

As soon as they pulled up to Mia’s house, Cullen froze at the realization that there were already several other cars parked. 

“Evelyn, who… all was coming tonight?”

“Mia said everyone?”

“Everyone?” In any other situation he would have been embarrassed at the slight way his voice broke but right now he was too discombobulated to care. 

“Yeah, I think she mentioned Branson and his wife, and I think Rosalie was bringing her boyfriend?” A frown crossed her face. “Did you change your mind? I can still go home, Cullen, it's really not a big deal. ”

“No!” He blurted out quickly. He ignored the fact that he could feel warmth creeping up the back of his neck into his ears and he knew he was blushing. “No, it's not that I just… I've.. Never brought someone home before. At least not that everyone has met.”

That apparently drew a laugh from her. “You're exaggerating.”

“...No, Evelyn, I'm serious. It's…. The closest I've done is when a girl asked me to a girls’ choice dance back in high school and mom and Mia met her at the door.”

Evelyn cooed before smiling softly. “That's… part of me is in disbelief that you've made it through some 15 plus years of dating history without bringing a girl home but at the same time, it is… endearingly characteristic of you. If you're not comfortable with this, we don't have to. I promise I won't be offended or upset.”

“I..no, Evelyn it's not that. I do want this, I do want you to meet them, I just… Wasn't expecting to do everyone at once. I was hoping this would be a gradual thing.”

That drew a scoff from her. “It'll be fine. You seem to be forgetting that I have nearly twice as many siblings as you do. I can handle it.”

He chuckled softly before pinching the bridge of his nose with a self depreciating laugh. 

“Well at least Rose is bringing a boyfriend, so we won't be the only ones under the microscope.”

“Actually….” She drew the word out as she gave him a sympathetic grin. “She's apparently brought him to dinner a few times when you couldn't make it, so it's just us in the hot seat tonight.” He groaned and she was quick to continue. “But you can still put him on edge because you'll be meeting _him_ for the first time and I'm sure meeting a big brother cop is sufficiently intimidating?”

“That's less of a consolation than you might think, “ he said wryly, squeezing her hand. “Alright. Let's get in there and face the music. I intend to give my meddling sister a piece of my mind for springing this on us.” 

“Lead the way,” she laughed as she unbuckled and hopped out of the car. “This should be fun.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for stopping by! Reviews are extremely appreciated. Let me know if you're interested in seeing more of this series. :)


End file.
